1939 - 2017. Born in Feilding, New Zealand Ball created the Footrot Flats comic strip series which ran from 1976 to 1994 and was made into a feature length movie 'Footroot Flats: A Dog's Tale'. He was also known for his cartoons of Stanley the Palaeolithic Hero (the longest running cartoon in Punch magazine), Bruce the Barbarian and All the King's Comrades (also in Punch). He became an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for his services as a cartoonist in 2002.